Exploding parcels in Europe part of plot to target US flights, officials say

Parcels that exploded at logistics depots in Europe were part of a test run for a Russian plot to trigger explosions on cargo flights to the United States, according to security officials. Western governments and intelligence agencies in Europe have previously pointed to Moscow as being the source of a series of fires and acts of sabotage in Europe aimed at destabilising allies of Ukraine. However, explosions in courier depots in Britain, Germany and Poland this July, which a Lithuanian presidential adviser said were the work of Russia, had the potential to mark a serious escalation by causing an explosion on an aircraft. "I can state that this is part of unconventional kinetic operations against NATO countries that are being undertaken by the Russian military intelligence," Kestutis Budrys, a national security adviser to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, told Reuters on Tuesday. "We note that these operations are being escalated: their focus is moving... to harming infrastructure and actions that could end up killing people," he added. The Russian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Wall Street Journal on Monday cited Western security officials as saying that the devices that ignited in DHL depots in Birmingham, central England, and Leipzig were part of a Russian operation that was intended to cause fires on cargo or passenger flights to North America. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration said over the past several months it "worked with industry partners to put additional security measures for U.S. aircraft operators and foreign air carriers regarding certain cargo shipments bound for the United States."<br/>